Mendy
Short form of Mendel, a given name meaning "counselor" in Yiddish.
Name Census estimates that about 2,773 living Americans carry the first name Mendy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Mendy today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mendy births was 1974 (172 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mendy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mendy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Mendy was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,604 Americans
Peak year
1974
172 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,322
Tracked since 1954
Census
Mendy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,593 people with the first name Mendy, which placed it at #6,238 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,238
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,593 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mendy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mendy is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mendy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mendy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.0% · 2,203
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 121
- Black or African American4.4% · 114
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 68
- Two or more races2.6% · 67
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Mendy
Mendy is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,007 total registrations, 847 (28.2%) were male and 2,160 (71.8%) were female.
Mendy as a male name
- Ranked #2,322 in 2024
- 61 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (61 births)
Mendy as a female name
- Ranked #14,711 in 2009
- 7 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1974 (172 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mendy on both sides of the split. Of the 2,591 people counted with this name, 666 were male (25.7%) and 1,925 were female (74.3%).
Popularity
Mendy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mendy from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,306 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mendy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mendy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mendys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Mendy, while Michigan, South Carolina, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mendy
The name Mendy is a variant of the Hebrew name Mendel, which is derived from the German name Mendel, meaning "leader" or "commander". Mendel is a diminutive form of the Yiddish name Menachem, which translates to "comforter" or "consoler" in Hebrew.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mendy can be traced back to the 16th century in Eastern Europe, particularly among Ashkenazi Jewish communities. It gained popularity as a given name during the 19th and 20th centuries, especially among Hasidic Jews.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals with the name Mendy was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, also known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994). He was a prominent Jewish leader who played a significant role in reviving and spreading the teachings of Hasidic Judaism worldwide.
Another notable figure bearing the name Mendy was Mendy Samstein (1924-2019), a Holocaust survivor who became a renowned author and speaker, sharing his experiences and promoting tolerance and understanding.
In the world of literature, Mendy Cahan (1938-2021) was a prominent Yiddish writer and poet who contributed significantly to the preservation and promotion of Yiddish language and culture.
Mendy Rudolph (1932-2021) was a French-American businessman and philanthropist who played a crucial role in the development of the fashion industry in the United States.
Mendy Pellin (1932-2018) was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset, who served as the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and was actively involved in promoting Jewish education and culture.
While the name Mendy has its roots in the Jewish tradition, it has gained popularity across various cultures and communities, transcending its religious and ethnic boundaries.
People
Mendy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mendy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mendy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mendy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,773 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mendy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 123,604 US residents.
Is Mendy a common name?
We classify Mendy as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,007 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mendy most popular?
The single biggest year for Mendy was 1974, when 172 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mendy is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mendy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,593 people with the name Mendy, or 0.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,238 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mendy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mendy?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mendy on both sides of the split. Of the 2,591 people counted with this name, 666 were male (25.7%) and 1,925 were female (74.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mendy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mendy is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mendy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mendy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.0% (2,203 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mendy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mendy a female name?
Yes, 71.8% of people registered as Mendy in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mendy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mendy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mendy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Mendy?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Mendy at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.